Curious as to what brand reefer unit we should buy. Please respond with what unit( reefer) you have, and what you like about it, or not.
We have a straight truck/reefer box 18'.
We have a straight truck/reefer box 18'.
Reefer Choice & Why
- Thread starter ConfusedMuse
- Start date
riverrat2000
Seasoned Expediter
I just replaced a carrier 722 2ith a thermoking uds model 6 months ago the carrier had a lot of corrosion problems and after talking to a lot of people found out that carier had taken a trailer mounted unit and basically made an undermount unit out of it without taking into account that with it now being mounted close to the road that salt would be getting into it. After much more research and discussion I found out that thermoking is the only company that designed a unit to be an undermount. so far so good. Be aware that these unites are made in Italy and it takes time to get them ,up to three months
greg334
Veteran Expediter
Reefer?
It came with the truck.
Carrier 722
Needs work but it still performs well.
I am going to move it down from the box to the side because of maintainability. I am not going to even worry about salt and calcium chloride problem because it will have to be repackaged or put on a new frame, the thing is rusty from sitting up there getting sprayed by salt and calcium chloride and not getting cleaned properly so I have to use my head to figure out how to repackage it. Why replace it if it works?
I got a new temp monitor and printer that I have to install and certify.
It came with the truck.
Carrier 722
Needs work but it still performs well.
I am going to move it down from the box to the side because of maintainability. I am not going to even worry about salt and calcium chloride problem because it will have to be repackaged or put on a new frame, the thing is rusty from sitting up there getting sprayed by salt and calcium chloride and not getting cleaned properly so I have to use my head to figure out how to repackage it. Why replace it if it works?
I got a new temp monitor and printer that I have to install and certify.
We selected a Carrier over Thermo King not because of quality differences between the two. They are both good products with loyal fans. We selected a Carrier because of the dealer; Crows Truck Services in Memphis.
Crows custom builds the carriage that secures the underbody reefer to the truck. It is an elegant and reliable device that we wanted on our truck. The reefer is a Carrier 850 (with a 750 skin).
One year after putting the truck in service, the carriage is working like a charm. To access the reefer, I undo just two bolts that are easily reached from the front, grab a handle, and pull the reefer out from the side of the truck. The reefer rolls relatively easily on the carriage rollers. By relatively easy, I mean I can do this myself with only a little bit of muscle into it.
That is a sharp contrast to some of the fleet owner reefer trucks we drove. More than once I have seen two men and a fork lift used to work the reefer out from under the truck. The labor for that was $350 to $450 just to get to the point where the technicians could begin their service work.
With the Crows installation, no ties need to be cut. No lines need to be disconnected. If you want, you can run the reefer while it is pulled out. And pulling it out is easy.
Ours is an underbody mount or split system as some call it. And yes, that puts it closer to the road and road spray than a top mount would. That is a trade-off we made to gain top space in our sleeper. If that means replacing the reefer a year or two sooner than a top mount, so be it. Our sleeper space is that important to us.
However, Crows has done a lot of split-system installations and they are very good at it. They agree that corrosion can be a problem but also say that if you wash the reefer, the problem can be reduced. By the way, top-mounted units are not immune from road spray either. When you go in for a winter truck wash, the top of the truck is dirty too.
With the ease of access the Crows carriage provides, washing the reefer is not difficult to do. That is an additonal maintenance task. But again, the sleeper space we gain with an underbody installation is important to us. The extra maintenance is the price we pay. I wash ours at home with a garden hose. If it got really bad, I might use engine cleaner on it first but I have not had to do that yet.
Just after it was installed, we had a bug in the reefer that turned out was not attributable to the dealer. Carrier flew two engineers out to look at our unit. They did their thing and the reefer has been running like a top ever since.
I like Carrier. They took care of us. I like Crows even better. They take even better care of us and their carriage is the best I have seen in any undermount unit that requires a carriage.
Time will tell if corrosion brings our reefer to a premature end, and if washing the reefer will keep that from happening. We have only one winter on it. I've been keeping a close eye on it. So far, nothing is developing in there that raises red flags. But it has only been a year. As I said, time will tell.
The good news today is our Carrier 850 has been running like a top. It performs well in 110F desert heat. It performs well in subzero winter days. Now that that early bug has been worked out, it has been trouble free ever since. We are pleased with the product.
Our reefer is pictured below. Note that it is mounted under the sleeper, not the truck body. That was necessary because it is a CR-Unit with a relatively short wheelbase and tandem axles. A DR-Unit would have more room under the body. The skin shown in the photo is an 850 skin. We have a 750 skin on now. That was done to bring the skin back under the sleeper wall. The 850 skin is rounded and bowed out a bit from the side.
Crows custom builds the carriage that secures the underbody reefer to the truck. It is an elegant and reliable device that we wanted on our truck. The reefer is a Carrier 850 (with a 750 skin).
One year after putting the truck in service, the carriage is working like a charm. To access the reefer, I undo just two bolts that are easily reached from the front, grab a handle, and pull the reefer out from the side of the truck. The reefer rolls relatively easily on the carriage rollers. By relatively easy, I mean I can do this myself with only a little bit of muscle into it.
That is a sharp contrast to some of the fleet owner reefer trucks we drove. More than once I have seen two men and a fork lift used to work the reefer out from under the truck. The labor for that was $350 to $450 just to get to the point where the technicians could begin their service work.
With the Crows installation, no ties need to be cut. No lines need to be disconnected. If you want, you can run the reefer while it is pulled out. And pulling it out is easy.
Ours is an underbody mount or split system as some call it. And yes, that puts it closer to the road and road spray than a top mount would. That is a trade-off we made to gain top space in our sleeper. If that means replacing the reefer a year or two sooner than a top mount, so be it. Our sleeper space is that important to us.
However, Crows has done a lot of split-system installations and they are very good at it. They agree that corrosion can be a problem but also say that if you wash the reefer, the problem can be reduced. By the way, top-mounted units are not immune from road spray either. When you go in for a winter truck wash, the top of the truck is dirty too.
With the ease of access the Crows carriage provides, washing the reefer is not difficult to do. That is an additonal maintenance task. But again, the sleeper space we gain with an underbody installation is important to us. The extra maintenance is the price we pay. I wash ours at home with a garden hose. If it got really bad, I might use engine cleaner on it first but I have not had to do that yet.
Just after it was installed, we had a bug in the reefer that turned out was not attributable to the dealer. Carrier flew two engineers out to look at our unit. They did their thing and the reefer has been running like a top ever since.
I like Carrier. They took care of us. I like Crows even better. They take even better care of us and their carriage is the best I have seen in any undermount unit that requires a carriage.
Time will tell if corrosion brings our reefer to a premature end, and if washing the reefer will keep that from happening. We have only one winter on it. I've been keeping a close eye on it. So far, nothing is developing in there that raises red flags. But it has only been a year. As I said, time will tell.
The good news today is our Carrier 850 has been running like a top. It performs well in 110F desert heat. It performs well in subzero winter days. Now that that early bug has been worked out, it has been trouble free ever since. We are pleased with the product.
Our reefer is pictured below. Note that it is mounted under the sleeper, not the truck body. That was necessary because it is a CR-Unit with a relatively short wheelbase and tandem axles. A DR-Unit would have more room under the body. The skin shown in the photo is an 850 skin. We have a 750 skin on now. That was done to bring the skin back under the sleeper wall. The 850 skin is rounded and bowed out a bit from the side.
All these answers... thanks. But now I have more questions...
Why a belly mount instead of a roof mount. And, what kind of monitor/printer.
All the manufactor sites tell you theirs is best but no comparison to the competion.
Why a belly mount instead of a roof mount. And, what kind of monitor/printer.
All the manufactor sites tell you theirs is best but no comparison to the competion.
greg334
Veteran Expediter
Phil,
This may help others who are thinking about the side mount reefer unit;
What is the biggest concern about the corrosion and what would be the failure of the unit be caused by?
To clarify what I mean is the concern of the condenser, radiator or electronics the biggest worry about corrosion in the unit or something else?
The other question is how did they run the lines into the box, through the floor or up the front of the box or how?
TIA.
ADDED MATERIAL
Phil actually gave a good reason for the side (belly) mount, the sleeper.
As for the temp monitor, I have one made in Germany, pretty neat unit that was pulled out of a container - so the cost wasn't much but I was too late for the generator they had. I have it at home so I can't tell you what the maker or model is but it has 10 or 12 zones, door alarms, nice little keyboard and can hook up to a computer via USB. The printer is a Epson POS type dot matrix printer so supplies are easy to get. I understand that it can interface into the Carrier unit I have but I have not talked to Carrier about that.
This may help others who are thinking about the side mount reefer unit;
What is the biggest concern about the corrosion and what would be the failure of the unit be caused by?
To clarify what I mean is the concern of the condenser, radiator or electronics the biggest worry about corrosion in the unit or something else?
The other question is how did they run the lines into the box, through the floor or up the front of the box or how?
TIA.
ADDED MATERIAL
Phil actually gave a good reason for the side (belly) mount, the sleeper.
As for the temp monitor, I have one made in Germany, pretty neat unit that was pulled out of a container - so the cost wasn't much but I was too late for the generator they had. I have it at home so I can't tell you what the maker or model is but it has 10 or 12 zones, door alarms, nice little keyboard and can hook up to a computer via USB. The printer is a Epson POS type dot matrix printer so supplies are easy to get. I understand that it can interface into the Carrier unit I have but I have not talked to Carrier about that.
spudhead911
Seasoned Expediter
Spudhead911
We have a Thermo King UTS 50. It is made for under carriage installation. All components, including wiring and fittings are marine grade. The unit will cool down any box up to 26 feet. It does not have to be split like the Carrier units because the Thermo King UTS 50 is setup as a two piece unit. We have a 16 ft. box and it makes temperature very fast and maintains temperature great. We have the Thermo King printer/recorder unit with 4 probes in the box. With the Thermo King UTS 50 there is no need to have any kind of slide out or cage built, just unlatch the three latches and the front cover folds down and it is ready to be worked on. I believe that this unit is the only one built for under carriage installation.
We have a Thermo King UTS 50. It is made for under carriage installation. All components, including wiring and fittings are marine grade. The unit will cool down any box up to 26 feet. It does not have to be split like the Carrier units because the Thermo King UTS 50 is setup as a two piece unit. We have a 16 ft. box and it makes temperature very fast and maintains temperature great. We have the Thermo King printer/recorder unit with 4 probes in the box. With the Thermo King UTS 50 there is no need to have any kind of slide out or cage built, just unlatch the three latches and the front cover folds down and it is ready to be worked on. I believe that this unit is the only one built for under carriage installation.
>Phil,
>This may help others who are thinking about the side mount
>reefer unit;
>
>What is the biggest concern about the corrosion and what
>would be the failure of the unit be caused by?
I don't know. Myself, I have no concerns. I just hear a number of drivers talking about corrosion in non-specific ways. Some of them do so with the enthusiasm of a drama queen. There are dealers out there that do split installations that go bad. That is because they do not know what they are doing. Carrier does not have a factory standard split install procedure. Split installations are done at the dealer level and at the dealer's level of proficiency, which varies among dealers.
I think some of the corrosion talk comes from dealers that did a bad install and blamed corrosion for the problems they were unable to address that later showed up. Sales people that market top mount reefer truck will have a tendacy to highlight and perhaps over-emphasize the corrosion concerns too.
Carrier dealers tell me that the useful life of a reefer is seven years. Their world is dominated by reefers on produce trucks that are running many more hours than we run reefers on expediter trucks. If we can get seven years out of our reefer before replacing it, that would be fine with us. We figure on going through two reefers in the ten year life of our truck. If we can get ten years out of one reefer, that would be all the better. As I said above time will tell about our underbody installation. We will see if it lasts 5, 7 or 10 years.
>To clarify what I mean is the concern of the condenser,
>radiator or electronics the biggest worry about corrosion in
>the unit or something else?
Again, I don't know.
>The other question is how did they run the lines into the
>box, through the floor or up the front of the box or how?
In our case, they ran the lines up through the floor of the box, through a channel built into the reefer body front wall, and on to the evaporator. I have seen trucks with lines run on the outside too. Concerns about running them outside have to do with insulation and the ability to service the lines at a later date. There is not a lot of room between the sleeper and body walls. Concerns about running them inside have to do with freight damage that might occur if a line sprung a leak. On our truck, we address that concern by covering the channel with a piece of glass board. If the lines need service, they are easily reached by removing the cover.
When we built the truck, I had the channel made extra wide to house additional pass-throughs that host AC electrical wiring and an air hose. The air hose is for cleaning the evaporator and truck body. The inverter-supplied AC power is for just in case we might want or need it inside the body; like if we were hauling a grocery store cooler full of cheese bound for a trade show, and the customer wants to keep the cooler plugged in, as well as shipping it as a reefer load. Or, like if I want to start a second business with a jig saw, making and selling wooden ducks and bird houses out of the back of the truck. Hey, whatever it takes to be ready for the slow times, right?
Thinking about this overnight, a couple more things came to mind. First, the carriage moves easier in the summer than winter. That is because of the grit that builds up in the roller tracks. It is easily removed with a garden or air hose, or a spring rain. The grit does not freeze up the carriage, it just makes it a bit more difficult to use. If you neglected the carriage, it would freeze up. It needs to be exercised every so often (every couple months) to keep it fresh.
Second, be it TK or Carrier, an underbody reefer is much easier to keep an eye on and pretrip. With the TK UTS and with our Carrier carriage setup, it is no trouble at all to check the oil, coolant and belts. With top mount units, you get to climb at your own peril. I would be willing to bet that underbody units get properly pretriped far more often than top mount units.
Finally, another reason we chose Carrier over TK was that we could not find a TK dealer that knew how to mount a UTS under the sleeper. They cited ground clearance issues. UTSs are designed to mount under the body, not the sleeper. Though, after we bought our Carrier, I have seen a couple UTSs mounted partially under the sleeper and partially under the body. For the dealer that did that, ground clearance was not an issue. As with Carrier split-installations, some TK dealers are better at underbody mounts than others.
Finally, finally, note that the TK UTS is a split installation too. The condensor and evaporator are not in one piece. One is under the body, one is inside the body on the ceiling. The difference between TK and Carrier is the fact that TK is factory designed to be mounted and serviced under the body. The Carrier under body is a dealer modification.
Myth buster: It is NOT TRUE that Carrier does not support underbody installations. Carrier flew two engineers and their equipment out from Athens, Georgia to Memphis, Tennessee to work on ours. I understand that the product has been slightly modified because of what the engineers learned from ours. Please don't ask me to explain, it's engineer technical stuff and above my ability to do so. The point is Carrier does indeed honor its warranty on underbody installations.
Reefer products are constantly evolving. The next item on the horizon is California emmission standards for reefers. People who have perfectly good, but older, reefers on their trucks may be forced to swap them out for newer ones if they want to haul reefer freight in and out of California.
>This may help others who are thinking about the side mount
>reefer unit;
>
>What is the biggest concern about the corrosion and what
>would be the failure of the unit be caused by?
I don't know. Myself, I have no concerns. I just hear a number of drivers talking about corrosion in non-specific ways. Some of them do so with the enthusiasm of a drama queen. There are dealers out there that do split installations that go bad. That is because they do not know what they are doing. Carrier does not have a factory standard split install procedure. Split installations are done at the dealer level and at the dealer's level of proficiency, which varies among dealers.
I think some of the corrosion talk comes from dealers that did a bad install and blamed corrosion for the problems they were unable to address that later showed up. Sales people that market top mount reefer truck will have a tendacy to highlight and perhaps over-emphasize the corrosion concerns too.
Carrier dealers tell me that the useful life of a reefer is seven years. Their world is dominated by reefers on produce trucks that are running many more hours than we run reefers on expediter trucks. If we can get seven years out of our reefer before replacing it, that would be fine with us. We figure on going through two reefers in the ten year life of our truck. If we can get ten years out of one reefer, that would be all the better. As I said above time will tell about our underbody installation. We will see if it lasts 5, 7 or 10 years.
>To clarify what I mean is the concern of the condenser,
>radiator or electronics the biggest worry about corrosion in
>the unit or something else?
Again, I don't know.
>The other question is how did they run the lines into the
>box, through the floor or up the front of the box or how?
In our case, they ran the lines up through the floor of the box, through a channel built into the reefer body front wall, and on to the evaporator. I have seen trucks with lines run on the outside too. Concerns about running them outside have to do with insulation and the ability to service the lines at a later date. There is not a lot of room between the sleeper and body walls. Concerns about running them inside have to do with freight damage that might occur if a line sprung a leak. On our truck, we address that concern by covering the channel with a piece of glass board. If the lines need service, they are easily reached by removing the cover.
When we built the truck, I had the channel made extra wide to house additional pass-throughs that host AC electrical wiring and an air hose. The air hose is for cleaning the evaporator and truck body. The inverter-supplied AC power is for just in case we might want or need it inside the body; like if we were hauling a grocery store cooler full of cheese bound for a trade show, and the customer wants to keep the cooler plugged in, as well as shipping it as a reefer load. Or, like if I want to start a second business with a jig saw, making and selling wooden ducks and bird houses out of the back of the truck. Hey, whatever it takes to be ready for the slow times, right?
Thinking about this overnight, a couple more things came to mind. First, the carriage moves easier in the summer than winter. That is because of the grit that builds up in the roller tracks. It is easily removed with a garden or air hose, or a spring rain. The grit does not freeze up the carriage, it just makes it a bit more difficult to use. If you neglected the carriage, it would freeze up. It needs to be exercised every so often (every couple months) to keep it fresh.
Second, be it TK or Carrier, an underbody reefer is much easier to keep an eye on and pretrip. With the TK UTS and with our Carrier carriage setup, it is no trouble at all to check the oil, coolant and belts. With top mount units, you get to climb at your own peril. I would be willing to bet that underbody units get properly pretriped far more often than top mount units.
Finally, another reason we chose Carrier over TK was that we could not find a TK dealer that knew how to mount a UTS under the sleeper. They cited ground clearance issues. UTSs are designed to mount under the body, not the sleeper. Though, after we bought our Carrier, I have seen a couple UTSs mounted partially under the sleeper and partially under the body. For the dealer that did that, ground clearance was not an issue. As with Carrier split-installations, some TK dealers are better at underbody mounts than others.
Finally, finally, note that the TK UTS is a split installation too. The condensor and evaporator are not in one piece. One is under the body, one is inside the body on the ceiling. The difference between TK and Carrier is the fact that TK is factory designed to be mounted and serviced under the body. The Carrier under body is a dealer modification.
Myth buster: It is NOT TRUE that Carrier does not support underbody installations. Carrier flew two engineers and their equipment out from Athens, Georgia to Memphis, Tennessee to work on ours. I understand that the product has been slightly modified because of what the engineers learned from ours. Please don't ask me to explain, it's engineer technical stuff and above my ability to do so. The point is Carrier does indeed honor its warranty on underbody installations.
Reefer products are constantly evolving. The next item on the horizon is California emmission standards for reefers. People who have perfectly good, but older, reefers on their trucks may be forced to swap them out for newer ones if they want to haul reefer freight in and out of California.
Have to agree on the undermount TK unit. It is made specifically for that application and does have all marine grade materials. I would say you made a wise choice. Out of all the reefers we have had over the years, corrosion was always an issue on the Carriers. Spraying them out and keeping the salt off helps, but does little for the calcium cloride many states now use.
Last one we sold was a 2000 unit and it had numerous repairs done to it because of that. Problems usually started to surface in the second and third year. One of the weak spots tended to be the fuel pumps for some reason. Every unit had several replaced.
Davekc
owner
23 years
PantherII
EO moderator
Last one we sold was a 2000 unit and it had numerous repairs done to it because of that. Problems usually started to surface in the second and third year. One of the weak spots tended to be the fuel pumps for some reason. Every unit had several replaced.
Davekc
owner
23 years
PantherII
EO moderator
riverrat2000
Seasoned Expediter
one other thing about the uts model, it has a scroll compressor where as the carrier uses piston compressors, the difference being the scroll compressor only has 3 moving parts, a lot less parts to wear out. the uts capasity is 31,000 btu/hr @ 35 degrees and 12,000 btu/hr at 20 below so it will do about anything you want it to do
I agree. I wish they had those units many years ago. Carrier still makes a ok unit, but they are really designed to be off the ground. A couple dealers I have noticed have stopped doing the belly mounts unless it is that TK unit because of all the corrosion and electrical issues.
Davekc
owner
23 years
PantherII
EO moderator
Davekc
owner
23 years
PantherII
EO moderator
We have installed a upper-mount Carrier 850 reefer on our new truck for two reasons.
One is the corrosion issue. The truck we drove with a belly mount reefer constantly had corrosion issues. With the deicers that they are using on the roads today, it is certainly a problem, maybe not today but it will be before the reefer is worn out.
The other reason is an overheating problem. If you happen to sit on hot asphalt and have the reefer running, it will have a tendency to overheat and shut down. We have had this happen to us twice and it is not fun because the only way to keep it from happening is to drive the truck until it cools down. This is especially bad if you carry TVal loads as this could compromise the temperature in the box if your unit shuts down. Has anyone else ever had this problem? I know of quite a few trucks that this has happened to.
These are two big reasons that I will stick with the above mount reefer. If I ever had to go with a belly mount reefer, it would be a Thermo-King just because it was designed to be put there.
One is the corrosion issue. The truck we drove with a belly mount reefer constantly had corrosion issues. With the deicers that they are using on the roads today, it is certainly a problem, maybe not today but it will be before the reefer is worn out.
The other reason is an overheating problem. If you happen to sit on hot asphalt and have the reefer running, it will have a tendency to overheat and shut down. We have had this happen to us twice and it is not fun because the only way to keep it from happening is to drive the truck until it cools down. This is especially bad if you carry TVal loads as this could compromise the temperature in the box if your unit shuts down. Has anyone else ever had this problem? I know of quite a few trucks that this has happened to.
These are two big reasons that I will stick with the above mount reefer. If I ever had to go with a belly mount reefer, it would be a Thermo-King just because it was designed to be put there.
I have heard of overheating problems like the ones you describe, but never on a unit installed by Crows. There are some things to know about an underbody installation and Crows has it figured out.
The most extreme test we had was last summer when we ran a -10F load of frozen strawberry juice in the Mojave Desert. Temp at pickup was over 100 degrees and there was no relief at night. All night we sat with the reefer running in an asphalt parking lot. The coolest it got was 90F. The reefer did not overheat or show any sign of coming close.
It was funny when we delivered in the Midwest on a hot, humid day. Opening the door with -10F air on the other side produced a blast of fog and cold air onto the dock area. The guys started talking about ice fishing.
The most extreme test we had was last summer when we ran a -10F load of frozen strawberry juice in the Mojave Desert. Temp at pickup was over 100 degrees and there was no relief at night. All night we sat with the reefer running in an asphalt parking lot. The coolest it got was 90F. The reefer did not overheat or show any sign of coming close.
It was funny when we delivered in the Midwest on a hot, humid day. Opening the door with -10F air on the other side produced a blast of fog and cold air onto the dock area. The guys started talking about ice fishing.
M
Mcarriers
Guest
With belly reefers you also have to be concerned with damage from gators or other road hazards. Also it is possible to bottom out or get hung up on an incline to some of the docks with things such as generators, tool boxes and belly mounted reefer units. We have both Carrier, one 744, one 850 and ThermoKing KDII SR, they are all top mounted units. I personally like the printout for T-val on my ThermoKing unit, but switching between C to F is a real pain in the ###. The choice of reefer box is very important, also. Make sure you use a reliable vendor that insulates well and builds a weather tight box.
Mello
FedEx Custom Critical
Mello
FedEx Custom Critical
The choice of reefer box is very important, also.
>Make sure you use a reliable vendor that insulates well and
>builds a weather tight box.
That is a very good point. Reefer performance differences may have more to do with the box (reefer body) than the reefer itself. Also note that the efficiency of all reefer boxes degrades over time. If you plan to keep your box for a long time, it is wise to over-spec it when new to extend its efficiency as it ages.
>Make sure you use a reliable vendor that insulates well and
>builds a weather tight box.
That is a very good point. Reefer performance differences may have more to do with the box (reefer body) than the reefer itself. Also note that the efficiency of all reefer boxes degrades over time. If you plan to keep your box for a long time, it is wise to over-spec it when new to extend its efficiency as it ages.
greg334
Veteran Expediter
Phil,
I don't know what you mean by over-spec'ing the box, the problem is that the insulation degrades over time, as does the seals on the doors and walls. You can't over spec anything when the materials are only good for so long.
All of this factor into the overall life time cycle of the box, as much as the abuse the box takes while mounted on the truck - torsional mechanics of a rigid box while mounted tightly on two pieces of steel that twists and is consistently moving.
As much as I would qualify the comment about the caveat of selection is utmost for the ROI, I also have to add that there are really a hand full of manufactures anyway, so the choice is somewhat limited.
I don't know what you mean by over-spec'ing the box, the problem is that the insulation degrades over time, as does the seals on the doors and walls. You can't over spec anything when the materials are only good for so long.
All of this factor into the overall life time cycle of the box, as much as the abuse the box takes while mounted on the truck - torsional mechanics of a rigid box while mounted tightly on two pieces of steel that twists and is consistently moving.
As much as I would qualify the comment about the caveat of selection is utmost for the ROI, I also have to add that there are really a hand full of manufactures anyway, so the choice is somewhat limited.
Can't thank everyone enough for all their replies. As usual the
replies provide information that far exceeds our expectations.
replies provide information that far exceeds our expectations.
Examples of over-spec'ing the box (and reefer, I should have added) include:
Ordering 4" of insulation when the sales rep says 3" will due.
Ordering 4" of insulation all around when the sales rep says something like you only need 4" on the floor and ceiling (sun and road heat) and 3" on the walls.
Using swing (barn) doors instead of a roll-up door because swing doors seal better. (Disclosure: We did not do this. We have a roll-up door in our truck because roll-up door benefits were desired.)
Ordering a Carrier 850 reefer when the application chart says a 650 will do the job for the cubic feet you are heating or cooling.
I know some straight truck owners that have 950 units on their truck. The sales rep tells me the 950s have the same compressor as reefers that cool 53' trailers. That too is an example of over-spec'ing.
It is also wise to review the body manufacturer's procedures for foaming the walls, floor and ceiling, and for testing for voids after the job is done. Over-spec'ing might include paying more for a manufacturer that has higher-quality procedures than a bottom-end manufacturer; or not if you want to split hairs about the definition of over-spec.
Ordering 4" of insulation when the sales rep says 3" will due.
Ordering 4" of insulation all around when the sales rep says something like you only need 4" on the floor and ceiling (sun and road heat) and 3" on the walls.
Using swing (barn) doors instead of a roll-up door because swing doors seal better. (Disclosure: We did not do this. We have a roll-up door in our truck because roll-up door benefits were desired.)
Ordering a Carrier 850 reefer when the application chart says a 650 will do the job for the cubic feet you are heating or cooling.
I know some straight truck owners that have 950 units on their truck. The sales rep tells me the 950s have the same compressor as reefers that cool 53' trailers. That too is an example of over-spec'ing.
It is also wise to review the body manufacturer's procedures for foaming the walls, floor and ceiling, and for testing for voids after the job is done. Over-spec'ing might include paying more for a manufacturer that has higher-quality procedures than a bottom-end manufacturer; or not if you want to split hairs about the definition of over-spec.